THEATER REVIEW ‘BABY’ : Pregnant Pause : A Tony-nominated play about three couples on the verge of parenthood is one of the best offerings in the county right now.

What’s the old saw about good things coming in small packages? “Baby,” the current production of the Conejo Afternoon Theater, is relatively unambitious by local community theater standards, with a cast of six principals, minimal scenery and a costume budget that seems to have been spent mostly on a couple of Boston College T-shirts.

Not one of the theater world’s best-known plays, “Baby” is being presented for a series of five Sunday afternoons in the Conejo Players Theater, where “Biloxi Blues” continues Thursday through Saturday nights. All seats are a bargain $5, with no reservations taken.

Still, the musical is probably the best piece of theater to be seen in Ventura County these days.

Nominated for five 1984 Tony awards, the show didn’t win any of them, mostly because it was bested by “La Cage aux Folles.”

Sybille Pearson’s witty book (uncredited in the Conejo Players program) follows three couples from the day that all three women are informed by their doctors that they are pregnant until one of them gives birth.

All six parents-to-be are members of the college community; they’re in their 20s, 30s (evidently) and 40s, and upcoming parenthood holds different promises for each pair.

The show’s a bit clinical in spots and probably inappropriate for anyone with whom it would be awkward to discuss the birds and the bees. In the opening sequence, a dancer--Michael Biggs, evidently--turns cartwheels while portraying a sperm. Still, those who can sympathize with the premise are likely to come out of the warm and fuzzy musical in a procreative mood.

Richard Maltby Jr. and David Shire have contributed several songs, which are more functional than memorable--one likely reason the show wasn’t a bigger hit is that the music disappears into the ether as soon as it’s sung.

What makes it special are Pearson’s story, some terrific casting and direction by Devery Holmes, and Marty Crawford’s choreography. All of them, and producer Donna Holroyd, are women.

Five of the six principals are new to the Conejo Players Theater stage, and all six form a consistently stellar team. Lisa Capps and Robert Marra play the ingenuous young couple (he reluctantly drops out of school to join a rock band on the road). Heidi Godt and J. Andrew Urbach are the middle pair in terms of age; Valorie Paradise-Lant and Robert Weaver (the one familiar face) play the veterans, married 20 years and rather surprised at the impending arrival of child No. 3.

In terms of singing and dancing ability and trueness to character, there are no weak links in this group.

An ensemble of seven capable supporting players contributes greatly. The five-piece band that’s hidden backstage is only occasionally too loud under the direction of Jim Holmes.

* WHERE AND WHEN

“Baby” continues Sundays at 2:30 p.m. through Sept. 29 at the Conejo Players Theater, 351 S. Moorpark Road, Thousand Oaks. General admission tickets are $5, with no advance sales or reservations, so early arrival is recommended. For information, call 495-3715.